Top 5 United State cities for terrorist attacks

With the recent carbomb in New York last week, news posts and blogs are popping up again regarding attacks. Here are the top five U.S. cities for terrorist attacks. The study period was from 1970 to 2007.

“Explosives are by far the weapon of choice for terrorists in New York City,” says Gary LaFree, who directs START and who orchestrated creation of the GTD. “Of all terror attacks in New York City from 1970 to 2007, 70 percent involved bombs or explosives.” La Free added, “Car bombs have played a small but deadly role in U.S. terrorism.” Of the ten terrorist car bomb attacks in the U.S., six have taken place in New York City. The most costly in the city involved the 1993 truck bomb attack on the World Trade Center, which killed six and injured a thousand people.

Nearly three-fourths of these attacks took place in the 1970s, followed by less frequent, but often more deadly incidents including the 1993 and 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. Businesses and government facilities are the most frequent targets – not only in New York City, but throughout the United States.

“While al-Qaeda has launched the deadliest attacks on New York City targets, almost 40 other identified groups engaged in terrorism in this city from 1970 to 2007, representing a range of different ideologies, backgrounds and goals, with changing actors over time,” the report says. Puerto Rican separatists, the Jewish Defense League and an anti-Castro group were the most active in the 1970s, with their attacks tapering off through the 1980s.